fish wont eat...why?

[Alaric]

My "primitive" friend doesnt own a PC and wanted me to post this question for him. Some of his African cichlids wont eat. He has a 90g tank with only an aquaclear 300 on it. He has approximately 15 small-medium sized fish. He does NOT do water changes. He has had the tank going 1 year with no problems. He already lost like 5 fish and we thought it was becuz he was feeding them large quantities of brine shrimp which caused bloat. But he quit doing so about 3 weeks ago and now his calvus and ahli are not eating. They sometimes sit on the bottom of the tank for a long while. Now he feeds them one veggie flake exclusively. I suspect not enough biofiltration or more likely his refusal to do water changes. Why wont they eat?

[optix]

you're saying he doesn't do water changes and only has an ac300 on there lol, I'd say that could very well be your problem

[jimbo]

Just tell him to perform a 40% water change every week.
Starting today with at least 80 %

edit: Do you know what size tank he's having?

Jimmy

[Harry Tolen]

Your primitive friend has neglected to do proper maintenance, and wonders why his fish are dying? Well. The "bloat" that has killed 5 fish so far almost certainly did not come from the brine shrimp (and in fact may not have been "bloat" at all), but rather from his failure to do proper maintenance. The dead fish and the ones that are still in there have most likely developed systemic bacterial infections brought on by an impairment in their immune systems in turn caused by steadily deteriorating water conditions. I'm guessing that the tank uses just tap water, so the buffers and minerals were probably far below Rift Lake standards to begin with, and the pH has also dropped to critical levels due to bioacidification. For the currently surviving fish, refusing to eat is an indication that they are heading down the same path as the ones that have already died.

It is possible that improving the filtration, water changes, and buffering/minerals may help, but the fish in that tank, as noted before, almost certainly have impaired immune systems and may thus not be able to get themselves back to health even with improved maintenance. And at this point, dumping in medicine will not help either.

The tank needs regular maintenance and more filtration (I'd add an AC500 filled with sponges only). I mention this not for your friend, who is unlikely to take this advice, but for you, because you may be able to buy this tank from him inexpensively once all his fish have died. A 90 gallon tank is a great tank to have.

Good luck.

[Cloud-9]

It seems like your friend is not willing to make the commitment to his fish. The nitrate levels in that tank must be very high.

Anyway, the fish can probably still be saved. It will take a lot of work on his part though. Basically, I would recommend an immediate water change of 50%. Hoover (vacuum) the gravel thoroughly. And then, clean the filter thoroughly, and rinse the sponge on the Aquaclear. Do not throw the sponge away yet. Remove the old carbon from the filter and discard, but do not put new carbon in just yet. Do not put food in the tank, unless you're sure the fish are ready to eat. Uneaten food is bad for water quality. The next day, perform another 50% water change. Don't worry too much about the water change, the fish are already under stress and the clean water can only help. The reason for a partial water change, as opposed to a complete change, is to avoid a very drastic change in the water's ph.

After the water changes, add some metronidazole to the tank. Metronidazole is easy to find. Better yet, find a medication that not only contain metronidazole, but also a wide-spectrum anti-bacterial. Follow the course of treatment. Change 25% of the water, add new carbon to the filter. And then feed the fish. If the fish still doesn't eat, remove the carbon and add methylene blue to the water.

I have experienced the same situation such as that years ago. I inherited some fish from the teacher who used to teach in my class room. The students, ofcourse, never bothered to change the water during the ten months that the tank was in the classroom. There were some swordtails, algae eaters, and a couple of small firemouths in the tank. All had the sunken in belly look of fishes that hasn't been feeding for quite some time. But the fish not feeding never stopped the students from dumping food in the tank. I did the water change routine, as outlined above. And used metronidazoel first, and then methylene blue.

The Firemouths started eating within 8-12 hours of adding the metronidazole. Five days later, the others were still not feeding. That's when I added the methylene blue. All of the fishes got back to good health after that. The whole process took a little longer than two weeks. Figure 2-3 days for the water change, five for the metronidazole, and five for the methylene blue.

[Alaric]

Just want to say thanks to those who responded. I've been trying to tell him for a while that he needs to do water changes but hes stubborn and said hes never had a fish die yet. He did the first 50percent change and couldnt believe how active and lively hes fish became after. We only hope its not too late....

[dcallen]

I hope it's not too late as well. I'm glad you were able to persuade him to do the water change, hopefully he will continue to do so. If he is able to stick to a regular routine of weekly water changes and filtration maintenance as necessary then he should be ok from here on out. For a 90 gallon tank an AC 300 clearly isn't enough. I would suggest that he get either another HOB filter such as an AC 500 or perhaps a small cannister filter like an Eheim 2215. Keep us posted on his progress.


http://www.eheim.com/

HTH...